Indian Coast Guard Detains North Korean Vessel off Andaman

by OldSailor on August 8, 2009

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Indian Coast Guard detained a suspicious ship MV Mu San (initially reported as MV Musen) from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on August 06 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The North Korean vessel was found to be anchored off Hut Bay in Little Andaman without informing Indian authorities.

Some reports available regarding the vessel are:

Vessel sailed from Taem Chabang port of Thailand on July 27, with 16,500 tons of sugar to Umm Qasr in Iraq.

En route, the vessel entered Singapore on July 30 and left Singapore on July 31.

Vessel was found to be anchored in Indian waters off Hut Bay on August 05.

Later when coast guard ship Kanakalatha Barua approached the vessel, the vessel tried to escape, forcing coast guard to fire warning shots in the air.

Vessel finally obeyed coast guard instructions and was brought to Port Blair on August 06.

Army intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and other government agencies are inspecting the vessel and interrogating her 39 crew.

The master of the vessel has told that the vessel entered Indian waters due to mechanical fault. It is also reported that the vessel was changing course to enter Indian port of Kakinada. However, Interocean, the Delhi based agent of the ship was not aware of the vessel’s port of call to Kakinada.

The ship’s log book was found to be vague.

It may be recalled that world wide watch is being kept on North Korean vessels as they are suspected to be carrying nuclear materials illegally.